Confirm Download

Simultaneous file downloading works best in FireFox, Chrome, and Safari browsers. Please keep this window open until all downloads are complete. Some customers prefer using file download managers for Chrome or Firefox to better manage large and multiple file downloads.

Articulating Design Decisions

The way we talk about design to stakeholders is critical to the success of our projects. We must become better communicators of design to people who may not have the same depth of experience in design or technology that we do.

Designers are now thrust into the middle of a process with business people, expected to be the experts on design, and then asked to tell everyone else should be done. A lot of people in our meetings may know nothing about design, yet will consistently tell us how to design.

The single most important thing you can do to improve communication between you and your stakeholders is to improve those relationships, earn trust, and establish a rapport that will speak more for you than the words that come out of your mouth in a meeting.

Our goal with stakeholders is to remove as much of the clutter, options, and roadblocks as possible so that their brains are freed to focus on the primary task of the meeting: getting approval for our designs.

Listening is an important skill for every relationship, but for the purpose of going over designs with a non-designer, there are two kinds of listening activities that are important to meeting with stakeholders.

Because I know there are non-designers out there who want to learn to better work with designers, this session is geared towards helping the other people in the designer’s path to better understand, communicate with, and thrive on teams with designers.

Design has the power to change the future, to influence people, and to benefit you and your career.

00:13:33

Articulating Design Decisions

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: July 2015

Run
time: 2 hours 51 minutes

With this practical video, UX designers will learn the principles and actionable methods for talking about their ideas with executives, marketers, and others who have influence over a web or app project—with the goal of winning over these stakeholders and creating the best user experience.

Every designer must justify their designs to non-designers, yet most lack the ability to explain themselves in a way that fosters agreement. This video will not only help UX designers articulate their ideas, but will also be valuable for non-designers who want to learn to work better with designers.

Identify distractions and remove them so you can focus on the real issues regarding the usability and effectiveness of a design

Make a case for your designs by directly connecting them to the needs of the business

Use data, user testing, and other compelling research to justify your design decisions

Ask your stakeholders to explain their needs and suggestions in ways that you can understand, and that everyone agrees on

Be sure you uncover the real problem they’re trying to solve

Filter out unnecessary information, and as soon as possible send a follow-up to the entire team

Tom Greever is a designer, consultant, and trainer for Bitovi.com, a web app design and development consulting shop in Chicago. Tom has been designing websites and interfaces since 1999 in a variety of environments, including internal corporate design teams and as a freelancer, with clients ranging from startups to Fortune 100s. Tom also blogs and speaks about UX and design at industry conferences.

How can we help?

I can play free video chapters but not the video chapters I purchased.

The login status in the upper right corner is stuck at "Authenticating..."

Make sure these login related domains can create cookies and are allowed by your firewall and browser:

*.oreilly.com

*.oreillystatic.com

*.cloudfront.net

*.janrainsso.com

*.janrain.com

*.rpxnow.com

*.janrainbackplane.com

After unblocking the listed domains, visit members.oreilly.com to log in again and click Watch/Download Video to get back to the video player page.

I can't find the code examples or working files mentioned in the video.

Code examples and working files can be found in one of two places:

Linked in the description of each video chapter, made visible by clicking on the Expand All link in the Table of Contents.

Available via a red button labeled "Download Example Code" visible under the video player display on the right hand side.

I can't download the video files or the video files I downloaded are incomplete.

Most web browsers limit the number of simultaneous downloads or require consistent fast download speed to download large video files. We recommend downloading the files one at a time, or use a download manager with your browser.

I am experiencing poor quality audio and/or video.

Audio and video problems can be caused by a connection issue or a problem with a specific video file. Refresh the player page to reset streaming or download the video file to play locally.

I still need help and would like to provide additional information.

I would like customer service to follow up with me at this email address:

We're sorry you experienced a problem with our video player.

You will receive an email response as soon as possible, Monday through Friday from 7:30AM to 5:00PM Pacific Time from the O'Reilly Customer Service team. We are also available via phone at 707.827.7019 or toll-free at 800.889.8969 and via direct email at videofeedback@oreilly.com